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Quick guides for parliaments on digitalization, remote working and virtual meetings
Quick guides produced with the support of the European Union, in partnership with International IDEA), as part of the INTER PARES project
The pandemic has forced many parliaments to become more digital to avoid interruptions caused by social distancing and lockdowns. They have had to innovate rapidly, introducing novel solutions for digital document management, and moving away from paper‑based working towards digital-first remote activities, including virtual and hybrid meetings.
A small number of parliaments already had digital working environments in place before the pandemic that they could build on during the crisis. The majority, however, were either planning and working towards digital twins of their manual procedures or had not considered solutions at all. Editions of the World e-Parliament Report have consistently shown that parliaments are often challenged in implementing digital modernization projects, particularly those in lower-income countries. Barriers include funding, the availability of skilled resources and organizational attitudes to risk and innovation.
The IPU Centre for Innovation in Parliament was the subject of considerable interest during the pandemic, with parliaments small and large keen to learn about how others had found solutions to remote and hybrid sittings. The 2021 virtual World e-Parliament Conference, which was focused on parliaments’ pandemic responses, saw a record level of attendance, with ongoing interest in the topic after the event.
To meet the demand for learning and guidance, the Centre for Innovation in Parliament, in collaboration with its hubs and with support from the Inter-Pares project, has developed a series of quick guides intended to provide more targeted why and how-to guidance to parliaments as they find themselves in different stages of responding to the pandemic – and, going forward, digital transformation. We are pleased to present the following guides that address selected aspects of digitalization, and virtual working and meeting.
You can download the quick guides here.
|
Title |
Purpose |
Intended for |
|
Short videos |
To help parliamentary digital communications staff make short videos, using a phone and with limited resources |
Digital communications staff |
|
Online meetings |
To help members and staff work more safely and effectively during online meetings by providing practical advice and good practices
|
MPs, presiding officers, ICT managers |
|
Policies for virtual meetings |
To help create practical policies and guidelines for holding online meetings
|
|
|
Implementing the hybrid plenary |
To help plan and develop roadmaps for remote plenary meetings and voting solutions to support the hybrid parliament
|
|
|
ICT governance |
To present available tools for envisioning a digital strategy to support the new normal of digitally transformed parliaments
|
Parliamentary digital transformation planners |
Contact
The Centre for Innovation in Parliament is keen to assist parliaments as they make use of these guides by receiving and answering questions, and assisting where possible in finding solutions. Please contact us on: [email protected].